Banter
by KimiNinja03
Summary: 6-year-old Mikey hates how he can't focus or pay much attention. His big brothers want to cheer him up but it all goes wrong and now Mikey has the wrong idea. They need to fix it. (Cute turtletots and bro fluff!)


**Hey guys! Here is another !Turtletot one-shot that attacked me randomly one night! Gotta love plot bunnies...I'm still working on "Hurt But Not Broken" but I needed a little break! I'll have it done tomorrow!**

 **Anyways hope you like! Gimme those beautiful thoughts and opinions of yours! I'm attention craving right now! XD Have a nice night!**

 **ENJOY! I own** _ **Nothing**_ **!**

* * *

 **Banter- to be silly, tease one another**

 **Age: 6**

Michelangelo, from as early as he could start, formed a love of teasing his brothers and pranking them. It was his way of helping them when they were sad or when they were stressed. Especially since they started lessons and ninjitsu, it was a lot for a kid their age.

"Hey Mikey, Sensei says we gotta work on our forms!" Leonardo called out for his baby brother. His brother's freckled face appeared around the corner of their room, his expression playful, "C'mon Mikey, no more messing around!"

"What...me?!" Mikey asked with feign hurt. Raph rolled his eyes and slapped the back of his head, going past him, "Ow, Raphie!"

"I hate when ya call me that!" Raphael growled and Leo rolled his eyes. Donatello suddenly came from his workshop room filled with half built toys and items.

"Donnie!" Mikey giggled and threw his arms around the unsuspecting turtle. "Are you done buildin'?!"

"Not yet." He replied while pushing Mikey away from him. "Are we working together on our forms?" Leo nodded.

"I dunwanna work right now!" Mikey complained with a frown.

"Mikey, we gotta work hard so we can get our masks!" Raph pointed out with a scowl. Mikey sighed.

"Fine, then can I do something first?" He asked and they looked at him confused. Suddenly he threw a water balloon, a small one, at Raph's face, who squeaked in surprise as it hit his beak. Leo and Donnie just stared in surprise and Mikey laughed.

"Ahahahaha!"

"MIKEY!" Raph growled and ran after his baby brother. Leo and Donnie sighed and shook their heads, going off to the dojo without the two.

* * *

"Straighten your back Donatello." The newly named Splinter observed. "Keep your hands together Leonardo, Raphael don't give up too easily."

"But Sensei-"

"No buts Raphael. You may get it wrong many times, but mistakes turn into perfection." Splinter tapped his cane and Raph nodded, biting his lip as he got in position again, "Michelangelo, you are distracted again, my son."

"Heh, sorry Sensei." He smiled while trying to focus on his form. Splinter sighed as he watched his youngest stare off into space or look at his brothers. He noticed him staring and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry..."

"Maybe we should stop here for the day.." Splinter offered and watched his sons drop to the floor tiredly. He smiled, "Rest my sons, you did well today in both your academics and training." They smiled gratefully as he walked into his room.

"We...we are pretty good at this..." Leo smiled at his brothers, "We just need work..."

"Yeah, there are so many ways to mess up the forms." Donnie said thoughtfully. They looked at Mikey who was smiling, distracted by the patterns on the ground. They shook their heads, "At least _we_ pay attention.."

Mikey blinked and looked at them. "Opps...I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking!"

"Well that's a first." Raph grinned while his brothers nodded. Mikey rolled his eyes.

"It's just...I can't do it the way you guys can..." He said looking down as he got on his knees.

"Do what? The forms? You can do it Mikey, you just can't stop getting distracted." Leo tried to offer comfort.

"Not the forms, the attention. I can't pay attention the way you guys can.." Mikey looked frustrated and then looked behind him at the wall.

"It's okay Mikey, you-"

"It's not okay Donnie, I can't stop thinking about it!" Mikey blurted feeling annoyed. They just looked at him in surprise and he sighed, "I'm going to make lunch."

As they watched him leave, Raph turned to them. "Why's he gettin' mad? Mikey neva really gets mad!"

"I don't think he's mad, I think he's upset that he can't concentrate." Leo observed while looking at Donnie.

"Well he doesn't know it, but I'm positively sure he has ADD, which is a Attention Defi-something Disorder..." Donnie explained with a proud grin. Leo and Raph looked at each other, "He'll always have trouble focusing. I read it in a book!"

Leo and Raph rolled their eyes. But soon the boys trailed off thinking how it must suck to have a "disorder". Raph and Leo knew enough to know that it meant Mikey was different.

"Hey, why don't we pull a prank on him? He always does it to us when we're down and it usually works too." Leo replied thoughtfully. Raph and Donnie looked at each other, smirked and then nodded.

* * *

"They would _never_ understand, why do I bother?" Michelangelo muttered while twisting his chopsticks in the algae and worms. He lifelessly watched some of the worms disappear.

Donatello peeked his head around the corner and stared at his baby brother. He felt something funny in his chest seeing him look so down. He looked back at Raphael and Leonardo and nodded his head. They smiled and got in position, sitting on the couch while Donnie stepped in the kitchen.

"Hi Mikey!" Donnie said in a cheery voice. It startled the freckled turtle, who jumped high on the stool, "What are you doing?"

"I-I'm eatin'.." Mikey yelped while shifting upwards before his small body fell off the seat. Donnie slanted his head and just walked up to try and peer over the tabletop, "What are you doin', Donnie?"

"I just wanna keep you company!" Donnie grinned and Mikey blushed, hearing himself in that mirrored sentence, "You wanna watch a movie with me, Leo, and Raphie?"

Mikey blinked and giggled a little. "Okay, yes!" Donnie smiled and watched Mikey try to slide off the stool but held on when his feet dangled, "Um..."

Rolling his eyes Donnie stepped forth, helping his baby bro off the stool. Mikey giggled, feeling embarrassed being in Donnie's arms but this usually happened since he was the smallest and Don was the tallest.

"Okay, c'mon!" Donnie smiled while grabbing his hand and pulling him along. Mikey grinned a little bit wider because his brothers hardly offered to hang out with each other, it was usually Mikey to get them together.

"Hey Mikey!" Leo and Raph said simulationously, so Mikey would have stopped if Donnie didn't have such a tight grip on his wrist.

"What's goin on…?" He asked warily. Raph and Leo exchanged looks with each other and Donnie, "Did I do something wrong?"

They panicked. They haven't had as much practice in pranking like Mikey has. Donatello was bluntly honest, Leonardo was a terrible liar. So it was up to Raphael.

"Nope, we just noticed ya actin' werid. So we thought ya'd wanna watch a movie." Six year old Raph beamed as Mikey looked like he was seeing stars. He pulled Donnie along and sat on the couch beside his two older brothers.

"What are we watchin'?!" Mikey asked exictedly and Leo was starting to debate whether or not they were pulling the right prank here. He eyed Raph and Donnie nervously. But Raph was grinning.

Leonardo sighed softly and put in one of Disney movies that Splinter had managed to get for them last year. As he did this Raph distracted Mikey while Donnie finished tying a rope to a bucket of slime and algae they had quickly scrambled together. He put the bucket to where just one tug would spill the slime and algae over him from the spiral staircase above.

Donnie grinned as he made sure the rope was long enough to trail to where he was sitting beside Mikey. He nodded at Raph and Leo when he sat back down near Mikey. Raph looked behind him at Leo as Mikey smiled at the movie they'd picked.

"No way, I love Aladden!" Mikey exclaimed as he swung his short legs at the end of the bench. Donnie was the only one whose legs touched the ground when they sat at the bench, but just barely.

Somewhat in the beginning of the movie when Mikey had calmed down Leo couldn't help but asking. "Hey Mikey?"

"Yeah Leo?" Mikey turned to look at Leo with a smile. Leo almost paused. He briefly saw Raph nod at Donnie, who snickered softly and had the rope in hand.

"Are you still sad about not paying attention earlier?" Leo asked curiously, which was part of the plan. He was surprised to see Mikey look at his knees sadly.

"You guys are so cool and good at lots of things. But I think of one thing and another and another. I can't help it! But no one believes me." Mikey felt his lip tremble. Leo blinked in surprise.

"Well I understand. And I know somethin' that will make ya feel betta." Raph smirked and Donnie gave a toothy smile behind Mikey. He scooted back so he wouldnt be hit with the slime and Raph was pushing Leo back too.

"You do?" Mikey looked up from his knees, happy to hear one of his brothers understood. Then he looked confused as to why Raph looked like that and why they were suddenly so far away.

Then he felt something fall on him and jolted in alarm. He blinked with really wide eyes as he stared at his body in shock. There was green goo and algae all over him and it was starting to drip in his eyes. He wiped his eyes as he heard his brothers laughing.

"Got you Mikey!" Donnie cried from behind him. Raph couldn't even talk he was laughing so hard at Mikey's face. Leo was covering his mouth with both hands, giggling into them. Mikey blinked again.

"You...huh? _What?"_ Mikey looked around and then saw the rope and the bucket which was still sort of dripping goo on him. He cringed.

"We played a prank on you!" Donnie continued to giggle as his cheeks turned dark green from it. Mikey blushed himself, feeling his cheeks burn and hurt filled his chest. His lips trembled and his body shook as tears appeared in his eyes.

"I thought you finally understood..." He mumbled strangely, making his brothers look at him as their laughter was dying. Leo was the first to recover, "You guys are just *hic* j-jerks!" Mikey sobbed so suddenly it alarmed them, especially Raph.

Then Mikey shot up and ran off. "Mikey- _wait!"_ Donnie cried in instant alarm and worry. Mikey jumped over the turnstile and nearly slipped trying to get away just as Master Splinter came out of his rooms with worry.

"What happened here?!" He demanded in surprise as he took in the bucket, rope, and the mess on the bench. All his sons looked guilty and a bit horrified.

"We got to find Mikey, Sensei, he ran away from the lair!" Leo cried as he stood up and rushed to his Father. Donnie was right behind him. Splinter's eyes widened.

"You three will stay here and clean this mess up!" Splinter narrowed his eyes and they gulped, "I will get your brother." They nodded and watched as their Father disappeared in record timing.

Leo and Donnie looked at Raph. "We screwed up.." Leo looked down.

"It was supposed ta be funny..." Raph muttered in surprise.

"But we hurt his feelings," Donnie spoke up with tears in his eyes. Leo grabbed his hand in comfort. "I didn't mean to hurt his feelings."

"We all didn't Donnie," Leo replied with a smile, "We can apologize when he comes back."

"What if Sensei can't find him?" Donnie gasped in horror. Raph snapped his gaze up and pratically jumped towards his older and younger brother then. He surprised Leo as he put his hands on Don's shoulders.

"That won't happen. Sensei will find im'." He replied with seriouness, "He _just_ left, there is no way Mikey can run away with green goo on him." Donnie deflated in relief and nodded. Raph smiled at his accomplishment and Leo wiped Donnie's tears.

Then they turned and groaned at the mess they had to clean.

* * *

It didn't take long for Splinter to follow the green gooey footsteps. When he reached the end it was to find Michelangelo curled into a miserable ball at a corner turnoff, sobbing into his knees. Splinter felt his heart ache for him then.

"Michelangelo," Splinter spoke up as he knelt down to his baby. Mikey jumped at his voice and looked up with tears swimming in his baby blues, making his Father blurry at first until he blinked them out.

"D-Daddy," Mikey sobbed and hicupped. Splinter's ears drooped and he picked his baby up and cuddled him in his lap like he used to, "I-I'm sorry for runnin' away."

"Hush, my son. What has made you so distressed?" Splinter asked. He could guess with what he saw but he wanted to hear it for himself.

"I t-told Leo, Raphie and D-Donnie about how I hate that I can't p-pay attention like they can. I thought they _finally_ wanted to s-spend time with me! But they just wanted to p-prank me! Raphie said he understood h-how I felt, but t-they just wanted to m-make fun of me!" Mikey wailed at the end and pushed his face in Splinter's chest so hard he winced.

Splinter had the right mind to go and ground all three of his elder sons.

"Why do they *hic* make f-fun of me? I-I try *hic* hard too!" Mikey cried some more and Splinter craddled him best he could to try and wait the sobs out, "Is it because t-they don't l-like me?!" Splinter opened his mouth to say something, "O-Oh *hic* gosh, Daddy, they *hic* _hate_ me!"

"Yame Michelangelo!" Splinter softly commanded and Mikey's wide tear filled eyes found his, but his tears were drying, leaving his eyes bloodshot, swollen, and red. "Your brothers must have had their own motives. But I definitely know that they do not hate you! As for the paying attention part, my child, everyone learns differently. You learn at a slower pace and you have a great imagination. It does not make me love you less, understand?"

Mikey's eyes were half lidded now and he rubbed them because they were iratated. He sniffed and nodded as he curled against Splinter then. Splinter sighed but smiled in relief. He noticed most of the algae and goo had stuck to Michelangelo's body and dried out. Some stained his robe.

He carried Michelangelo home in his arms. His eyes were closed but Splinter knew he wasn't sleeping. As he rounded the corner he noticed the two boys were scrubbing the floor and Donnie was scrubbing the bench off.

Their eyes grew wide when they seen their Father and Mikey in his arms. They all jumped up at once and Splinter held up a hand to silence them with a narrowed eye stare. They gulped.

"Is..he okay?" Leo asked hestiantly. Splinter nodded his head and watched them sigh in relief. He felt Michelangelo tense in his arms as he walked to the boys' shared room. He set him down on the bed.

"Michelangelo, rest here a moment while I prepare a warm bath for you to get that stuff off." Splinter said softly. Mikey nodded as he stared at the covers blankly.

Splinter sighed as he stood straight and closed the door behind him. He saw the boys were back to cleaning the couch and floor.

"Is..he sleepin'? Is he mad at us?" Raph asked looking conflicted. Upon Splinter's stern look he added, "It was supposed ta be funny! It wasn't-"

"Silence, please, my sons. I have something to tell you." Splinter cross his arms. Leo and Donnie immediately stopped working and the boys all stared at their Father nervously, "I have spoken to Michelangelo. He is _very_ upset."

They winced. Leo looked up guiltly. "We didn't mean to upset him, Dad."

"Whatever your reason is, Michelangelo _believed_ Raphael when he said he believed Michelangelo about his attention troubles." Splinter sighed at Raph's gulilty face, "He is hurt. He also hurts because he thought you geniunely wanted to spend time with him." He watched their faces turn even more guilty and somewhat horrified.

"We...that's not.." Donnie looked a bit sick and upset so Leo held his hand again and looked up at Splinter.

"We were just trying to distract him from being sad, like he does us." Leo offered with a small smile to cover up his hurt. Splinter's ears drooped slightly. _Oh, my poor boys. How they misunderstand._

"You have done the opposite my son," Splinter denied and shook his head, "Michelangelo firmly believes that you all were making fun of him because he has a hard time paying attention."

"What?!" Raph asked in surprise and horror. Donnie looked from Leo to Raph with wide red brown eyes.

"It is much worse. He thinks you all do not like him. He went as far as to say you three must hate him." Splinter spoke up. This time all brothers looked stunned and shocked. All pale green.

"How could he _think_ that?!" Donnie cried.

"That's so wrong!" Leo gasped.

"N-Not true!" Raph denied as he looked immensely guilty. Splinter sighed.

"I must prepare Michelangelo's bath. You three make amends to your baby brother." Splinter ordered with a narrowed eye stare. They all didn't waste anymore time and rushed towards their shared bedroom.

Splinter smiled before heading off to the bathroom.

"MIKEY!" The older brothers yelled as they didn't knock. They flung the door wide open, startling the youngest to stare at them with wide bloodshot baby blue eyes. The older brothers pratically flew to the bed and Mikey shrieked as his body lifted off the bed at the impact of the weight on the matress.

"Mikey, I'm sorry!" Raph apologized, shocking and confusing Mikey.

"Are you okay?!" Leo demanded as he looked over his bright green covered body with new found guilt.

"Mikey we didn't mean to make you sad!" Donnie cried as he hugged his only little brother hard. Mikey gasped and looked at his bros in a confused manner.

"Uh..?" Mikey looked around at each of them and couldn't move away from Donnie, who clenched tighter when he tried.

"We weren't making fun of you, I _promise_!" Leo suddenly shrieked, holding Mikey's face in his shaky hands. Mikey blinked in surprise, "We were just trying to make you feel better! Like you do for us!"

"R-Really?" Mikey asked, embarrassed as he pulled away from Leo and looked at Donnie. Donnie nodded, his head rubbing against Mikey's cheek at the movement. Mikey blushed.

"Ya, we love spendin' time with ya! We just thought ya'd appreciate tha distraction. And why did ya think we hate ya?" Raph asked with anger in his voice. Mikey blushed even more.

This time Leo stared at him hard. Raph was too and even Donnie pulled away to stare at him. Mikey fidgeted nervously.

"I dunno...cause I'm not cool? Cause I'm stupid..." Mikey barely whispered. Upon their suprised/angry looks he twisted his fingers nervously and sighed, "I wanna be cool like my Leo, strong like my Raphie and smart like my Donnie. But I'm not any of those things."

"Oh Mikey..." Donnie trailed off as he rest his head on the side of Mikey's head, "You don't have to be like us. That'd be boring. You are your own person."

"Own person?" Mikey asked confused.

"Ya! You don't have ta be strong like me! You are funny, obviously none of us can make a good joke. You are fun and funny and happy all the time." Raph blushed as he crossed his arms. The boys snickered at him and Mikey beamed a little.

"We love you the way _you_ are Mikey," Leo said with a smile, one that grew when Mikey looked happy but with wide eyes.

"You love me?" Mikey asked and Donnie chuckled as he squished Mikey in the hug. Leo nodded, exhaustively relieved.

"Only on Tuesdays." Raph grumbled jokingly and they turned to him surprised, only to find his blush had grown slightly. Leo and Donnie laughed. Mikey grinned.

"Gee _, thanks_ Raphie. And when do you love Daddy, Leo and Donnie?" He asked and they turned to him with smirks. Raph blushed and glared with a stubborn pout.

"Daddy on Sundays, Leo on Mondays and Donnie on Wenesdays," He grumbled. Mikey snickered when he remembered it was Tuesday.

"And the other three days?" Donnie asked in amusement, sharing a glance with Mikey whom he was still hugging. Raph looked away.

"All of ya I guess..." He mumbled and they all laughed. Mikey and Donnie fell over making Mikey's head fall in Raph's lap. Leo saw Raph blush and snickered in his face. Raph pushed his face away and growled. "Stop it!"

Leo smirked as his two baby brothers laughed hard and just to irratate Raph more he laid down on Raph's other leg. Raph groaned and Leo smirked as he cuddled up to Mikey's other side.

"Aha, comfortable Raphie?" Mikey asked innocently.

"No, don't call me that." Raph frowned but secretly felt content at feeling his three brothers on him. Donnie laughed in Mikey's shoulder.

"Donnie that tickles!" Mikey giggled as he wiggled against Raph. Raph snickered because now he was starting to get tickled.

"Stop that or get off me!" Raph grumbled but Leo beamed at him.

"I dunno Raphie, this is comfortable." Leo teased and Raph looked down at him in a threatening way.

"Okay Michelangelo I have finished the-" Splinter walked in and stopped at the door when his four sons looked up at him in surprise and embarrassment. They were all cuddling each other on Raph, who looked most uncomfortable at being caught.

Most of all the algae and goo was now on all four of them. Mikey grinned sheepishly as Splinter sighed but with a smile.

"Looks like you all get a bath together." He announced and the boys finally seen the mess and gaped at it. Mikey laughed joyfully.

"Yay! We get to take a bath together!" Mikey grinned as he got off Raph. "Last one in the water hatched from a rotten egg!"

The boys groaned/ laughed as they raced after Mikey. Splinter watched them and shook his head. He chuckled and smiled fondly as he rushed off to the bathroom to start bathing his sons.

* * *

 **Ahhhh! Gotta love turtletots! My bro suffers from bad ADD so Mikey kinda reminds me a little of him. My baby bro has ADHD so it's even more understandable that this particular plot bunny attacked me...**

 **Thanks for any and all support! You guys are amazing. Thanks for taking the time to read!**

 **STAY AWESOME! ;3**


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